Chapter 1

Discovering Blog Basics

In This Chapter

arrow Recognizing the hallmarks of a blog

arrow Getting started with your own blog

arrow Deciding what to blog about

arrow Blogging successfully

By now, you’ve probably heard the word blog tossed around by all kinds of people, seen it show up in news stories or cited on TV news broadcasts, or you may even have a child, friend, or coworker who has a blog. Bloggers are showing up inside businesses, and businesses are even using blogs to reach out to their customers. But what exactly do all these people mean when they say they have a blog? And what does a blog written by a teenager have in common with one written by a CEO?

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you aren’t exactly sure what a blog is. The word blog is actually a mash-up of two other words — web and log — so if it sounds made up, that’s because it is. At its most basic level, a blog is a chronologically ordered series of website updates, written and organized much like a traditional diary, right down to the informal style of writing that characterizes personal communication.

In this chapter, you find ...

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